Selvage mechanism



A ril 6, 1965 R. F. SAMPLE SELVAGE MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 5, 1962 RANOELL E SAMPLE.

.4 TTORNEY R; F. SAMPLE SELVAGE MECHANISM April 6, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 5, 1962 INVENTOR. EANDELL FSAMPLE. B M fim Q A TTORNE Y United States Patent 3,176,725 SELVAGE MECHANISM Randell F. Sample, Hopedale, Mass, assignor to Draper Corporation, Hopedale, Mass, acorporation of Maine Filed Nov. 5, 1962, Ser. No. 235,203 1 Claim. (Cl. 139-54) This invention pertains in part to the weaving mechanism of so-called shuttleless looms and, more particularly, to improvements in the driving means for producing a twisted or leno type selvage.

It is a general object of the invention to provide a compact selvage binder drive mechanism for easy application to a loom which requires a minimum amount of attention and maintenance.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an enclosed selvage binder drive mechanism which utilizes a minimum number of components and which has an extended life expectancy over the drive mechanisms employed heretofore.

It is a still further and more specific object of the invention to provide a selvage binder drive mechanism that is caused to function at a constant and uniform rate of speed and which can be reversed selectively to cause the selvage thread binder to rotate either once every pick or once every two picks.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following more detailed disclosure.

In so-called shuttleless looms, that is, in looms wherein the filling yarn is not interwoven with the warp threads to form a normal selvage like that formed in looms of the fly shuttle type, it is common practice to form a twisted or leno selvage which is accomplished by feeding and shedding two selvage threads which are twisted together at each or spaced shed changes.

The means utilized for shedding and twisting these selvage threads is disclosed in United States Patent No. 2,710,631, and since applicants novel drive is intended as a means for actuating this mechanism, it is considered unnecessary at this point to describe herein the general aspects of construction and operation of this mechanism. Accordingly, attention is hereby drawn to that patent for a detailed description of its components and mode of operation.

The means employed to rotate the selvage disk prior to the introduction of applicants novel drive means utilized a driving sprocket and a driven sprocket which were interconnected by a sprocket chain member. Unlike applicants device this drive means is capable of operating at one speed only and the motion transmitting members, that is, the chain and sprocket members, being exposed, presented undesirable conditions which required excessive attention to maintain them in a manner which produced the desired quality of a twisted or leno selvage.

The chain member has a comparatively short life and requires frequent adjustments to maintain it in satisfactory operating condition. Hand lubrication of the mechanism has been a necessity in order to avoid excessive lubricant that could possibly get onto the selvage and warp yarns which would result in a fabric of inferior quality.

The film of oil required by the chain member is subject to an excessive accumulation of lint and when allowed to accumulate, will cause a stretching of the chain and the necessary subsequent readjustment thereof.

According to the instant invention, the undesirable conditions set forth above have been eliminated.

Applicant utilizes enclosed gearing as a source of drive and a second enclosed gear unit as a means for $.i7hfi25 Patented Apr. 6, 1965 transmitting the rotary motion developed in the driving unit to the salvage disk by means of a motion transmitting shaft interconnecting the first and second geared unit. The driving means includes a driving gear with a pair of driving pinions in driving relationship with and disposed at diametrically opposite points of said driving gear. Each of the driving pinions are provided with a shaft connecting means and one of said pinions has a pitch diameter at least twice that of the other. The driving unit is selectively rotatable to permit one end of the motion transferring shaft to be attached to one or the other of the pinions shaft connecting means. With this feature the selvage disk rotates at a speed which causes it to make one crossing at every pick or can be caused to make one crossing for every two picks. This depends, of course, on the type of selvage required for a particular weave.

The invention will be described hereinafter in greater detail by reference to the accompanying figures of drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation of the selvage binder disk drive comprising the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the driving gear case taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view in front elevation of the mechanism shown in FIG. 1 including the selvage binder disk; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the upper gear unit taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 3.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 a portion of a looms side frame lit to which a gear casing generally indicated by numeral 11 is attached. This gear casing includes a mounting bracket generally indicated by numeral 12 which assembles on the outer side of side frame 10 by means of bolts 13 and 14 which pass through holes in said side frame and thence through aligned apertures in the bolting flange 15 of the mounting bracket itself. A centrally disposed cylindrical hub portion 16 being integral with and extending from both sides of the bolting flange 15 forms the means for mounting the gear casing 11 as depicted in FIG. 3. That portion of the cylindrical hub 16 which extends through and beyond the inner side of the side frame is machined to a lesser diameter as at 16' and is adapted to receive thereon the inner mating cylindrical surface 17 of the gear casing 11. The hub portion 16' is provided with a circumferential groove 18 which is adapted to receive the tip of a set screw 19 which assembles in and passes through the shell portion of casing 11. Set screw 19 when tightened into pressing contact with recess 1% serves as a means for assembling the casing 11 to the mounting bracket 12 as well as a means for positioning said casing selectively to obtain the desired speed with which it is caused to function.

The cylindrical portion 16 and 16' of the mounting bracket 12 axially supports a driving shaft 20 each end of which protrudes from said cylindrical hub. That end of shaft 20 that extends outwardly from the side frame 10 is provided with a gear member 21 which is caused to rotate through the medium of any suitable mechanism. The opposite end of shaft 20 extends into the gear casing 11 and is provided on that end with a helical drive gear 22 which is assembled thereon by means of a washer 23 and a nut member 24 (FIG. 2). Suitable bearing members 25 (one only shown in FIG. 2) are provided in the cylindrical hub 16 and 16' to reduce the frictional contact of the rotating shaft 20 assembled therein.

Helical drive pinions 26 and 27 are mounted in spaced relationship within gear casing 11 and are in driving relationship with the helical drive gear 22 and at diametrically opposite points thereof. These helical drive pinions are axially supported within the casing 11 by J9 shaft members 23 and 29, respectively, each of which are seated in bearing members 30 and 31, respectively, to facilitate rotation of said shaft members with said pinions.

Drive pinion 26 has a pitch diameter twice that of pinion 27 and will therefore cause shaft member 28 to rotate at a ratio of speed less than that of shaft 29. Shaft members 28 and 29 are provided with extensions 32 and 33, respectively, which protrude from opposite sides of the casing 11 as shown in FIG. 1 and are selectively engageable with a longitudinally adjustable motion transferring shaft 34 to transmit the rotary motion developed in casing 11 to an'upper gear casing generally indicated by numeral 35. This gear casing is provided with a horizontally disposed and axially aligned selvage disk shaft 36 which extends through and beyond the ends of said casing. Fixedly positioned on shaft 36 and carried within casing 35 there is provided a binder disk gear 38-which is caused to rotate in the direction of the indicating arrow shown in FIG. 1 by means of a pinion 39 in meshing relation therewith. Pinion 39 is fixedly positioned on and supported by a pinion shaft 40 which in turn is seated in bearing members 41 borne in casing 35 permitting said shaft and pinion to rotate in unison. Pinion shaft 40 protrudes and extends below the casing 35 as at 42 in FIG. 1 and serves as a shaft connecting means which is adapted to be received by and attached in the upper end of a flexible universal dicarried on the upper end of the motion transferring shaft 34. This shaft also carries a flexible universal 44 at its lower end and is adapted to receive and fixedly position therein either shaft extension 32 or 33 depending, of course, on the rate of speed and type of selvage that is preferred. 7

The horizontally disposed selvage disk shaft 36 supports a thread mounting and controlling disk or selvage binder disk 45 adjacent its inner end which is caused to rotate with this shaft to twist and shed the selvage threads in a manner well known to those conversant in the art. Shaft 36 is also adjustable longitudinally to permit the binder disk 45 to be moved inwardly or outwardly thus enabling it to be adapted for use with various widths of fabrics being woven.

The upper gear casing 35 is adjustable vertically and horizontally as shown in FIG. 1 and enables the mechanism to be used on looms utilizing a plurality of harnesses.

In operation, the desired speed at which the selvage binder disk is caused'to rotate is obtained by simply attaching the lower portion of universal 44 to either shaft extension 32 or 33. To change from one ratio of speed to another simply requires the disconnecting of universal 44 from the shaft extension being used, loosening set screw 19 and then rotating the gear casing 11 1MP. This will put the other shaft extension in a position to be received by the universal 44 and the tightening of set screw 19 will firmly hold the gear casing in this position. The rotation of driving shaft 20 is transmitted to the motion transferring shaft 34 by means of the helical drive gear on shaft 20 being in driving relation with a helical drive pinion interconnected with said shaft 34-. Shaft 34, being connected to the pinion shaft 40 carried in the upper gear casing 35, is thereby caused to turn rotating the pinion 39 fixedly positioned thereon. Pinion 39 being in meshing relation with the binder disk gear 38 causes the latter gear to be rotated thereby rotating shaft 36 and the binder disk carried thereby in the direction of the indicating arrow shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

While one embodiment of the invention has been disclosed, it is to be understood that the inventive concept may be carried out in a number of ways. This invention is, therefore, not to be limited to the precise details described, but is intended to embrace all variations and modifications thereof falling within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claim.

I claim:

A continuous driving means for a binder disk for selvage binding threads of a loom having in combination a driven shaft carrying at one end a binder thread mounting and controlling disk, a driving shaft and a first gear fixed thereto, a gear casing and further gears mounted on individual shafts diametrically opposed to said driven shaft one of which has a pitch diameter at least twice as great as the other, and both being caused to rotate with said first gear, shaft connecting means forming a part of each of said further gears, said casing being selectively reversible to either of two driving positions, and an interconnecting drive shaft selectively engageable with one of said further gears depending upon the position of the casing and gear means at the other end of said interconnecting drive shaft and the driven shaft for transmitting rotation of the disk.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 728,266 5/03 Mill 74353 749,186 1/04 Hagman 74-353 2,703,587 3/55 Allenson 13954 2,710,631 6/55 Flamand 139--54 2,976,581 3/61 Van Deusen 19159 MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

RUSSELL C. MADER, DONALD W. PARKER,

Examiners, 

